>>>2. Some built-in utilities like backup (Symantec) and defrag (Execsoft) started out as licensed, feature-limited versions of those other vendors' products. Under the licensing terms MS could not make them more capable.
>>
>>Symantec authered NT Backup with tape/removable support or the new stuff of Vista and later where MS is in the drivers seat ? Having a backup which is NOT under your control cannot really called backup in my book. And rewriting a defrag GUI should not be THAT difficult, if they let slip such stuff into the contract at all. In MS-Dos times they were sharper ;-)
>
>In XP/2003 and below, NTBackup was just Symantec Backup Exec desktop/server versions, dumbed down. Vista onwards I think it's MS. But it's not 100% bad, I like the built-in image backup in Win7.

.vhd image is a step in the right direction, as is the option to create a boot cd yourself - which makes having an USB stick with xCopy tools veeery attractive. But hidden partitions and other such nonsense to trap those not following wizards around spoils it...